Hair follicle regeneration in vitro

Abstract

Hair follicles (HF) are skin appendages that develop as a result of the epithelial-mesenchymal interactions. The HF mesenchymal component—dermal papilla (DP)—has an ability to induce HF growth after transplantation in afollicular epidermis; this ability is retained through several passages in culture. In the present study, early regeneration events of a human HF are designed in vitro, using DP cells and skin kerati-nocytes. An artificial hair germ model is developed to study the primary steps of the stem cell self-organiza-tion during HF regeneration.